Motorsport: On the fast track to Formula One

A CTS-V blitzes Germany's Nurburgring racetrack. Photo / Supplied

Think you're the next Jenson Button? Want to channel your inner Michael Schumacher? Then make sure your bank balance has a few zeroes at the end of it and book a flight to Europe.

In Italy and Spain, there are exclusive race courses for the rich and famous where you can spend days zooming around in a Formula 1 car doing your best Lewis Hamilton impression. Or, if you want to hit the famous race tracks such as Germany's Nurburgring, you can do a few laps in a Radical SR3 RS.

Maserati is also catering for the wannabe F1 racers and has just created a new driving course, the Master Italian Lifestyle Experience, that combines fast cars, race tracks and lots of Italian food and wine. Based in Florence, the experience includes a driving course, tours around the local wine region - in a Maserati of course - and lots of food tasting at the cost of €1250 ($1970).

But for $7500, you can attend a Master Maserati Course at the Autodromo Riccardo Paletti in Varano de' Melegari, near Parma, where you're taught to drive like a professional.

If you have more money to spare, then head to Klaas Zwart's Ascari Race Resort in Ronda, Spain. The race track has state-of-the-art pit boxes to work on the cars you can race, including three 1995 Ferrari F1 machines, a 1997 Benetton F1 racer and two 2001 Arrows three-seater F1 cars.

There's also a restaurant, bar and pool for rich racers to relax in after a day on the circuit. Annual membership costs about $34,000 and includes 15 days on the track while premium membership costs $260,000 to join (plus "just" $17,500 a year in fees) and includes 50 track days, and a personalised race suit and helmet.

For the serious F1 fans, check out www.trackdays.co.uk, which lists all the circuits you can pay to race on. They include Nurburgring, Le Mans, and British tracks such as Donnington Park.

Nurburgring is the most famous of them all - it is 20.9km long and has at least 73 bends, with two main tracks - Nordschleife and the GP-Strecke. Experienced drivers describe it as the most demanding circuit in the world so it is a mecca for race fans.

As well as the Radical SR3 RS experience on the GP-Strecke circuit, there is the three-day Nurburgring 700 event that is an 80-car, 160-person tour on the Nordschleife track.

But if Nascar is your passion then head to America where there's the Richard Petty Driving Experience. There are year-round courses at more than 20 tracks nationwide where you can learn to race like a Nascar driver.

But if you're budget can't quite stretch to going overseas, you can spend the day at Meremere's Hampton Downs track in a V8 Holden or Ford where a qualified instructor gives you theory and practical lessons before you race for six laps in a grunty machine.

And at $450, it's probably about the same as a drink at the bar of the flash Ascari Race Resort!.